COVID-19's Effects on Kids Are Even Stranger Than We Thought

[Celerity]

COVID-19’s Effects on Kids Are Even Stranger Than We Thought

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/clues-about-mis-c-and-covid-19-kids/619447/



The U.S. fell short of its goal of giving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4, but not by much. About two-thirds of everyone above the age of 18 had gotten a shot when the holiday arrived, with coverage among seniors surpassing even that benchmark. That leaves kids—mostly unvaccinated—as the Americans most exposed to the pandemic this summer, while the Delta variant spreads. It’s said that COVID-19 may soon be a disease of the young. If that’s what’s coming, then its effects on children must be better understood.

This month, The New England Journal of Medicine published new treatment guidelines for the occasionally fatal, COVID-related condition known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). When kids first started showing signs of MIS-C in early 2020—rash or conjunctivitis; low blood pressure; diarrhea or vomiting; etc.—doctors guessed it was an inflammatory disease that occurs most often in toddlers called Kawasaki disease. Now most experts believe it’s a separate condition, affecting kids at an average age of 8. No more than a few hundred children in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic—compared with more than half a million deaths overall—but more than 4,000 have developed MIS-C, and we still don’t have foolproof ways to cure it. But a handful of scientists think they’ve found important clues about what drives MIS-C. The disease, they say, may have something to do with a dangerous condition most commonly associated with tampon use.

That condition, called toxic shock syndrome, was also quite mysterious when it first appeared, in a group of kids in the late 1970s. Within a few years, it was clear that women who used high-absorbency tampons were also falling ill, with symptoms very much like those now seen in MIS-C: They had kidney failure, diarrhea, and skin rashes; a few went into shock and died. (Indeed, one of the early sufferers, like the early MIS-C patients, was initially and incorrectly thought to have Kawasaki disease.) Doctors soon realized that the tampon-induced sickness was caused by a buildup of toxins from certain strains of Staphylococcus or Streptococcus bacteria. In people who do not yet have immunity to those strains, the toxins somehow bypass the immune system’s usual processes for developing a targeted response to a pathogen. That sets off a widespread, confused, nonspecific immune reaction.

Read: Doctors are puzzled by heart inflammation in the young and vaccinated

The toxins that caused the immune system to run amok were called “superantigens” in 1989. (More than two dozen types have now been discovered in tampon-related bacteria, rabies, Ebola, and other pathogens.) What makes them “super” is their ability to short-circuit T-cell receptors. Under normal circumstances, a foreign substance provokes an immune reaction when a piece of it, called an antigen, binds to the nook in the middle of a T-cell receptor. That prompts the body to make antibodies tailored to the antigen’s specific shape. But superantigens manage to grab on and connect to the T cells outside the nook. That still triggers an immune response, but it isn’t one that’s custom-made for the infection. “What does a superantigen do? It comes on from the side,” says Moshe Arditi, a pediatric-infectious-disease doctor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in L.A. “That's why it’s able to bind to many, many, many, many cells—20 to 30 percent of your T cells that suddenly could be bound by the superantigen and—boom—activated like crazy.”

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[SheltieLover]

1. Poor kids!

I just can't wait until they all get crammed back into schools!

Ty for posting!

[FirstLight]

2. I hope they are looking at other immune-related conditions/people

I have an autoimmune disease and take suppressives, how well did the vax work on me? Is it why I seem to be continuing to flare ...or am I just succumbing to the progression of my condition?

shit, and my rheumatologist os out on maternity leave till October

[Celerity]

4. my rheumatologist os out on maternity leave till October

go find another doctor

cheers!

[FirstLight]

5. living in a rural remote mountain area...not much choice

and traveling to sac isnt feasible... thanks

[Celerity]

8. good luck!

If your health issues continue (or start to) deteriorate on a systemic basis, it might be time to move to an area with better healthcare options.

Hugz

[yourmovemonkey]

10. This is interesting to me

I had to switch medications a few months ago for my RA. As a part of that my rheumatologist also weaned me off of a second medication that I had also been taking.
I had to go see her this past week, because I was experiencing mild, but persistent, inflammation even with the new medication. Now, we're going to try and bring the second medication that I had stopped back into the picture. But this shouldn't be necessary. The newer meds are supposed to target specific immune response all alone.
I also wondered if I was finally just beginning to succumb to the slow progression of the disease, and this was the new "normal" for me.
Have you heard of anyone else with an underlying condition who had the vaccine and is experiencing new symptoms?

I'm still glad I got the vaccine, even if there are side effects specific to people like me. I'm just curious if I should let my doctor know that I heard another anecdote from someone who was also vaccinated.

[FirstLight]

11. I don't know if it's all anecdotal now

but it seems like the info on autoimmune reactions is lacking...

not enough ppl in the study that arent hardcore transplant victims etc...those pf us on the fringe are not counted...

all I know is Im flaring more...could be the heat, stress, who knows? simce most autoimmune stuff is diagnosed by elimination, there's probably more tests to be run
(oh goody, more blood drawn)

[inwiththenew]

3. That's why I always shake my head the idiotic "Survival of the fittest" post I read

People seems to have constructed this notion in their head that the only people impacted by COVID are Trump supporters who chose not to get vaccinated. While that is definitely happening it completely ignores the fact that children cannot get vaccinated and are at the mercy of this virus for the time being.

Now granted, right now it doesn't seem to be much relative to the rest of the population but the point still remains.

[Celerity]

7. The vax refuseniks are going to cause all sorts of chaos and heartbreak in the US, and unfortunately

it will drift outward to many parts of the globe.

[beaglelover]

6. It's having a worse effect on their mental health

And development. It will be great for them to get back in the classrooms this fall.

[liberal_mama]

9. A lot of kids thrive with remote instruction. My nephew was homeschooled and he graduated from

law school last month. I think the schools should continue to offer both options.